Network repeater system

ABSTRACT

A system is described where antenna beam steering techniques are implemented to optimize time and frequency channel resources in wireless communication systems where repeaters are used. Beam steering modes of the antenna systems in the repeaters as well as the nodes are optimized to improve system capacity and load balancing. Client devices in a wireless LAN system can be configured to work as repeaters, with the repeaters containing a beam steering capability. The beam steering capability can be implemented in one or multiple nodes and repeaters in the communication system.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/454,429, having a filing date of Jun. 27, 2019, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/245,885, having a filingdate of Jan. 11, 2019 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,355,767, issued Jul. 16,2019), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/423,571,having a filing date of Feb. 2, 2017, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/290,419, having a filing date ofFeb. 2, 2016.

the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to the field of wireless communication;and more particularly, to a repeater system utilizing beam steeringantenna systems for use in communication systems such as a Local AreaNetwork (LAN) or cellular communication network.

Description of the Related Art

Repeater circuits are used in cellular and WLAN communication systems toimprove range and to minimize dropped connections due to multi-path. Arepeater works by receiving a signal from a communication node andre-transmitting the signal on the same frequency channel or a secondfrequency channel. With a repeater positioned at a distance from thecommunication node that represents 75 to 80 percent of the maximum rangefor communication, and with the repeater utilizing the same transmitpower and antenna gain then a near doubling of range can be achieved foran equivalent propagation channel. The area or volume that acommunication system provides coverage for can be increased byinstalling one or multiple repeaters that work in conjunction with thecommunication node. For example adding a repeater to operate inconjunction with a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point usedto provide connectivity in a region will result in extended coveragethroughout a building. A wireless repeater circuit does not need acabled connection to a communication node, easing the installation ofrepeaters in a communication system. Of course DC power will need to besupplied to power the transceivers used to comprise the repeater.

This extended range comes at the expense of reduced system capacity ifthe re-broadcast signal occurs on the same frequency channel. Ifseparate frequency channels are used for reception and transmission thenfrequency channel usage is impacted, again resulting in reduced systemcapacity. Another drawback with using repeaters is the introduction ofanother transmission source which can result in another interferencesource that needs to be considered.

Current and future WLAN access points and client communication deviceswill require higher performance from the antenna systems to improvesystem capacity and increase reliability of the connection. As newgenerations of handsets, gateways, and other wireless communicationdevices become embedded with more applications and the need forbandwidth becomes greater, new antenna systems will be required tooptimize link quality. Specifically, better control of the radiatedfield from the antenna system on the mobile or client side of thecommunication link along with the access point will be required toprovide better communication link quality for an antenna system taskedto provide higher throughput and a more reliable link.

Antenna beam steering techniques are well known and utilized on the baseterminal side of the cellular communication link, and these beamsteering techniques are also implemented on some WLAN access points.However, beam steering techniques are currently missing from small formfactor repeater devices used in WLAN applications due to the limitedspace allowed for the antenna system. Along with repeaters current cellphones, smart phones, tablet devices, and laptops are not large enoughnor have the internal volume available to support multi-element antennaarrays needed to effectuate traditional beam steering techniques.

Commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,911,402; 8,362,962; 8,648,755; and9,240,634 describe a beam steering technique wherein a single antenna iscapable of generating multiple radiating modes. This is effectuated withthe use of offset parasitic elements that alter the current distributionon the driven antenna as the reactive load on the parasitic is varied.This beam steering technique where multiple modes are generated is amodal antenna technique, and an antenna configured to alter radiatingmodes in this fashion will be referred to here as a modal antenna. Thisantenna architecture solves the problem associated with a lack of volumein mobile devices to accommodate antenna arrays needed to implement moretraditional beam steering hardware.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system containing an access point,two repeaters, and four clients. The access point and both repeatershave antenna beam steering capability. A system control matrix isdescribed where the communication link quality between the access pointand clients, the access point an repeaters, and the repeaters and theclients is measured and stored for each radiation mode or beam state ofthe beam steering antenna systems in the access point and repeaters.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication system containing an access point,one repeater, and three clients. The access point, repeater, and clientshave antenna beam steering capability. A system control matrix isdescribed where the communication link quality between the access pointand clients, the access point an repeaters, and the repeaters and theclients is measured and stored for each radiation mode or beam state ofthe beam steering antenna systems in the access point, repeater, andclients.

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication system containing an access point,two repeaters, and four clients. The access point, repeaters, andclients have antenna beam steering capability. The system control matrixis surveyed to find pairs of communication links that can operate at thesame frequency or channel simultaneously without interference by properradiation mode selection. Radiation modes for the antenna systemsassociated with the access point, repeaters, and clients are chosen toprovide minimal interference with other portions of the communicationsystem.

FIG. 4 illustrates a communication system containing an access point,two repeaters, and four clients. The access point, repeaters, andclients have antenna beam steering capability. Client C3 is capable ofoperating as a repeater when commanded by the system controller.

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication system where two networkconfigurations are shown. The two network configurations show differentsets of clients served by the repeater, with this capability of varyingwhich client is served by the repeater and access point used to loadbalance the communication system.

FIG. 6 illustrates a communication network fault correction methodologywherein a client is enabled to operate as a repeater when the repeaterin the system fails. Client C3 switches from client mode to repeatermode to provide a communication link from the access point to client C1.

FIG. 7 illustrates a communication system containing an access point, arepeater, and five clients. The access point and repeater are capable ofoperation on two frequency bands, labeled frequency Band 1 and frequencyBand 2. Frequency Band 2 is used to communicate between the access pointand repeater while frequency Band 1 is used to communicate between therepeater and clients and the access point and clients. The access pointand repeater have antenna beam steering capability. The clients may ormay not have beam steering capability. The system control matrix issurveyed to find pairs of communication links that can operate at thesame frequency or channel simultaneously without interference by properradiation mode selection. Radiation modes for the antenna systemsassociated with the access point, repeaters, and clients are chosen toprovide minimal interference with other portions of the communicationsystem.

FIG. 8 illustrates a system control matrix used to relate beam steeringmodes of the access point and repeater in a communication system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A communication system is described, utilizing one or multiple repeatersalong with beam steering antenna systems in both communication nodes andrepeaters to optimize system capacity and to provide load balancingimprovement to the network. Client or mobile devices used on the networkcan also contain antenna beam steering systems to improve networkperformance. Use of this new technique can result in increasedcommunication range due to the use of repeaters along with the abilityto dynamically change the direction of peak gain of the antennas in thecommunication nodes and repeaters. An increase in throughput as well asimproved link reliability is realized due to an increased SINR resultingfrom an optimized antenna system.

This instant disclosure concerns a system where antenna beam steeringtechniques are implemented to optimize time and frequency channelresources in wireless communication systems where repeaters are used.Beam steering modes of the antenna systems in the repeaters as well asthe nodes are optimized to improve system capacity and load balancing.Client devices in a wireless LAN system can be configured to work asrepeaters, with the repeaters containing a beam steering capability. Thebeam steering capability can be implemented in one or multiple nodes andrepeaters in the communication system.

In one embodiment, a communication node containing a transceiver andantenna system such as a WLAN access point is connected to one ormultiple repeaters, with the repeaters used to extend communicationrange. Each repeater contains a transmitter with antenna coupled to itand a receiver with a second antenna connected to it. One or morecommunication devices termed client devices are positioned withincommunication range of the access point and/or one or multiplerepeaters. Each client device contains a transceiver with antenna systemwith the client devices comprising the second end of a communicationlink. The antenna systems associated with the access point and one ormultiple of the repeaters are comprised of Modal antennas, with theModal antenna being capable of generating multiple radiation patternsfrom a single port antenna. An algorithm is implemented with the Modalantenna to provide a capability of surveying a channel quality indicator(CQI) metric such as Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR),Receive Signal Sensitivity Indicator (RSSI), Modulation Coding Scheme(MCS), or similar metric obtained from the baseband processor of thecommunication system to provide the capability to sample radiationpatterns and make a decision in regards to operating on the optimalradiation pattern or mode based on the CQI. The communication linkquality between the access point and each client as well as thecommunication link quality between the access point and the one ormultiple repeaters for each Mode of the Modal antennas associated withthe access point and the repeaters is measured and stored in memory. Thecommunication link quality between the one or multiple repeaters andeach client is measured and stored in memory. The algorithm uses thestored communication link quality information to determine the radiationModes of the Modal antennas associated with the access point and the oneor multiple repeaters to optimize the communication links between theaccess point and clients and repeaters as well as the repeaters and theclients. The optimization can be performed to improve Throughput betweenthe communication devices in this total system as well as communicationrange and capacity. Radiation Modes can be selected to allow forsimultaneous communication between access point and clients andrepeaters and clients at the same frequency channel, where radiationModes are selected to decrease interference between transceivers in thecommunication nodes and clients.

In another embodiment, the communication system as previously describedis implemented where Modal antennas are also extended for use on one ormultiple client devices. The communication link quality between theaccess point and each client as well as the communication link qualitybetween the access point and the one or multiple repeaters for each Modeof the Modal antennas associated with the access point and the repeatersis measured and stored in memory. The communication link quality betweenthe one or multiple repeaters and each client is measured and stored inmemory. The algorithm uses the stored communication link qualityinformation to determine the radiation Modes of the Modal antennasassociated with the access point, the one or multiple repeaters, and theone or multiple client devices to optimize the communication linksbetween the access point and clients and repeaters as well as therepeaters and the clients. The optimization can be performed to improveThroughput between the communication devices in this total system aswell as communication range and capacity. Radiation Modes can beselected to allow for simultaneous communication between access pointand clients and repeaters and clients at the same frequency channel,where radiation Modes are selected to decrease interference betweentransceivers in the communication nodes and clients.

In another embodiment, the communication system as previously describedis implemented where Modal antennas are implemented in the access point,one or multiple repeaters, and one or multiple client devices. One ormultiple client devices are configured with a repeater mode, where thetransceiver is configured with a transmitter with a first antenna andreceiver with a second antenna. If one or more clients in thecommunication network cannot make or maintain a communication link, withthese clients being termed under-served, with the access point orrepeaters then a client with a stable communication link with the accesspoint or a repeater can revert to a repeater mode where the clientreceives a signal from the access point or a repeater and transmit thesignal to the under-served client. If the client that is operating inrepeater mode has Modal antennas for the transmit and/or receivefunction, radiation Modes for the client operating in repeater mode aswell as the access point and repeaters in the communication system canbe selected to allow for simultaneous communication between access pointand clients and repeaters and clients at the same frequency channel,where radiation Modes are selected to decrease interference betweentransceivers in the communication nodes and clients.

In another embodiment, load balancing of the network can be improved byuse of the Modal antennas associated with the access point, repeaters,and/or client devices. The network is defined as an access point, one ormultiple repeaters, and one or multiple clients. Modal antennas areassociated with one or multiple nodes of this network and the radiationModes from one or multiple Modal antennas can be selected to loadbalance the network. For example, radiation modes can be selected on theModal antenna associated with a repeater to communicate with one clientin the network, with the access point communicating with the remainingclients in the network. To improve the load balancing process modes ofthe Modal antenna can be surveyed and the mode selected to communicatewith additional clients in the network to remove clients from the accesspoint link. In the overall network radiation Modes can be selected toallow for simultaneous communication between access point and clientsand repeaters and clients at the same frequency channel, where radiationModes are selected to decrease interference between transceivers in thecommunication nodes and clients.

Now turning to the drawings, FIG. 1 illustrates a communication systemcontaining an access point (AP1), two repeaters (R1; R2), and fourclients (C1; C2; C3; C4). The access point and both repeaters haveantenna beam steering capability. A system control matrix is describedwhere the communication link quality between the access point andclients (first link quality metric), the access point and repeaters, andthe repeaters and the clients (second link quality metric) is measuredand stored for each radiation mode or beam state of the beam steeringantenna systems in the access point and repeaters.

FIG. 2 illustrates a communication system containing an access point(AP1), one repeater (R1), and three clients (C1; C2; C3). The accesspoint, repeater, and clients have antenna beam steering capability. Asystem control matrix is described where the communication link qualitybetween the access point and clients (first link quality metric), theaccess point an repeaters, and the repeaters and the clients (secondlink quality metric) is measured and stored for each radiation mode orbeam state of the beam steering antenna systems in the access point,repeater, and clients.

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication system containing an access point(AP1), two repeaters (R1; R2), and four clients (C1; C2; C3; C4). Theaccess point, repeaters, and clients have antenna beam steeringcapability. The system control matrix is surveyed to find pairs ofcommunication links that can operate at the same frequency or channelsimultaneously without interference by proper radiation mode selection.Radiation modes for the antenna systems associated with the accesspoint, repeaters, and clients are chosen to provide minimal interferencewith other portions of the communication system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a communication system containing an access point(AP1), two repeaters (R1; R2), and four clients (C1; C2; C3; C4). Theaccess point, repeaters, and clients have antenna beam steeringcapability. Client C3 is capable of operating as a repeater whencommanded by the system controller.

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication system where two networkconfigurations are shown. The two network configurations show differentsets of clients served by the repeater, with this capability of varyingwhich client is served by the repeater and access point used to loadbalance the communication system.

FIG. 6 illustrates a communication network fault correction methodologywherein a client is enabled to operate as a repeater when the repeaterin the system fails. Client C3 switches from client mode to repeatermode to provide a communication link from the access point to client C1.

FIG. 7 illustrates a communication system containing an access point(AP1), a repeater (R1), and five clients (C1; C2; C3; C4; C5). Theaccess point and repeater are capable of operation on two frequencybands, labeled frequency Band 1 and frequency Band 2. Frequency Band 2is used to communicate between the access point and repeater whilefrequency Band 1 is used to communicate between the repeater and clientsand the access point and clients. The access point and repeater haveantenna beam steering capability. The clients may or may not have beamsteering capability. The system control matrix is surveyed to find pairsof communication links that can operate at the same frequency or channelsimultaneously without interference by proper radiation mode selection.Radiation modes for the antenna systems associated with the accesspoint, repeaters, and clients are chosen to provide minimal interferencewith other portions of the communication system.

FIG. 8 illustrates a system control matrix used to relate beam steeringmodes of the access point (node) and repeater in a communication system.

Accordingly, a communication system is described comprising:

a first node configured with a baseband unit and a transceiver, withsaid transceiver containing one or multiple transmit/receive ports;

one or multiple antennas connected to the transceiver, with one antennaconnected to each transmit/receive port;

a processor containing an algorithm;

a repeater circuit separately located from the first node consisting ofa receive circuit and a transmit circuit, with said receive circuits andtransmit circuits containing one or multiple transmit/receive ports withone antenna connected to each receive circuit and transmit circuit port;

a plurality of client devices, with each client device comprised of abaseband unit and a transceiver, with said transceiver containing one ormultiple transmit/receive ports;

one or multiple antennas connected to the transceiver of each clientdevice, with one antenna connected to each transmit/receive port;

the algorithm associated with the first node accesses a link qualitymetric associated with the communication link between the first node andthe plurality of client devices, the algorithm accesses a link qualitymetric associated with the communication link between the repeatercircuit and the plurality of client devices, one antenna connected tothe transceiver of the first node is a Modal antenna, with said Modalantenna capable of generating multiple radiation patterns, with theradiation patterns referred to as radiation modes, and with eachradiation mode being different from the other radiation modes, oneantenna connected to the receive circuit of the repeater is a Modalantenna, the algorithm resident in the processor of the first node isconfigured to survey one or multiple metrics from the baseband unit anduses the one or multiple metrics to select the radiation mode of theModal antenna in the first node and in the repeater receive circuit todetermine whether the first node or repeater provides optimalperformance for each of the plurality of clients.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured with oneantenna connected to the transmit circuit of the repeater is a Modalantenna; all antennas connected to the receive circuit of the repeaterare passive antennas; the algorithm resident in the processor of thefirst node is configured to survey one or multiple metrics from thebaseband unit and uses the one or multiple metrics to select theradiation mode of the Modal antenna in the first node and in therepeater transmit circuit to determine whether the first node orrepeater provides optimal performance for each of the plurality ofclients.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such thatone antenna connected to the transmit circuit of the repeater is a Modalantenna and one antenna connected to the receive circuit of the repeateris a Modal antenna; the algorithm resident in the processor of the firstnode is configured to survey one or multiple metrics from the basebandunit and uses the one or multiple metrics to select the radiation modeof the Modal antenna in the first node and in the repeater receivecircuit and transmit circuit to determine whether the first node orrepeater provides optimal performance for each of the plurality ofclients.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured with one ormultiple antennas connected to the first node and one or multipleantennas connected to the transmit circuit of the repeater circuit andone or multiple antennas connected to the receive circuit of therepeater circuit are Modal antennas; the algorithm resident in theprocessor of the first node is configured to survey one or multiplemetrics from the baseband unit and uses the one or multiple metrics toselect the radiation mode of all Modal antennas in the communicationsystem to provide optimal performance for each of the plurality ofclients.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such thattwo or more repeater circuits are separated from the first node, withone or more of the repeater circuits containing Modal antennas connectedto the receive and/or transmit circuits of said repeaters.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such thatthe algorithm surveys communication link metrics between the first nodeand the plurality of clients and the repeater and the plurality ofclients to load balance the communication system comprising the firstnode, repeater, and plurality of clients.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such thatthe algorithm surveys communication link metrics between the first nodeand the plurality of clients and the repeater and the plurality ofclients to load balance the communication system comprising the firstnode, repeater, and plurality of clients.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such thatthe algorithm is configured to survey one or multiple metrics from thebaseband unit associated with the communication link between the nodeand a plurality of clients and the repeater and a plurality of clientsand uses the one or multiple metrics to select the radiation mode of allModal antennas in the communication system to provide concurrenttransmission and/or reception between the node and one or multipleclients and the repeater and one or multiple clients at the samefrequency.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such thatthe algorithm is configured to survey one or multiple metrics from thebaseband unit associated with the communication link between the nodeand a plurality of clients and two or more repeaters and a plurality ofclients and uses the one or multiple metrics to select the radiationmode of all Modal antennas in the communication system to provideconcurrent transmission and/or reception between the node and one ormultiple clients and the two or more repeaters and one or multipleclients at the same frequency.

In other embodiments, the communication system is configured such that afault correction process is implemented to improve communication systemperformance when a repeater circuit has a partial or complete failure;when a failure in the repeater circuit is detected one of the pluralityof clients is commanded by the algorithm to serve as a repeater toprovide improved communication link performance to one or a plurality ofclients; the client selected to operate as a repeater does not have aModal antenna associated with it.

In yet other embodiments, the communication system is configured suchthat the client selected to operate as a repeater has a Modal antenna onthe transmit circuit, receive circuit, or both transmit and receivecircuits.

The “transmit/receive ports” may be collectively referred to as“communication ports”.

The transmit/receive ports of the first node (ex: access point) may betermed “first communication ports”.

Antennas associated with the first node may be referred to as “firstantennas”.

The transmit/receive ports of the repeater may be termed “secondcommunication ports”.

Antennas associated with the repeater may be referred to as “secondantennas”.

The transmit/receive ports of a client device may be termed “thirdcommunication ports”.

Antennas associated with a client device may be referred to as “thirdantennas”.

A link quality metric associated with a communication link between thefirst node and each of the plurality of client devices may be referredto as a “first link quality metric”.

A link quality metric associated with a communication link between therepeater and each of the plurality of client devices may be referred toas a “second link quality metric”.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A network repeater for a local areanetwork, the network repeater comprising: one or more modal antennas,the modal antenna configurable in a plurality of different adiationmodes, each radiation mode associated with a distinct radiation pattern;one or more processors, the processors configured to perform operations,the operations comprising: accessing a first communication link qualitymetric associated with a first communication link between a first nodeand the repeater; accessing a second communication link quality metricassociated with a second communication link between the repeater and asecond node; configuring at least one of the one or more modal antennasin one of the plurality of antenna modes based at least in part on thefirst communication link quality metric; wherein the operation ofconfiguring at least one of the one or more modal antennas in one of theplurality of antenna modes based at least in part on the firstcommunication link quality metric dynamically changes a peak gain of themodal antenna.
 2. The network repeater of claim 1, wherein the operationof configuring the modal antenna one of the plurality of antenna modesbased at least in part on the first communication link quality metric isimplemented for load balancing of the local area network.
 3. The networkrepe of claim 1, wherein the first node comprises a wireless networkaccess point.
 4. The network repeater of claim 1, wherein the secondnode comprises a client device in the local area network.
 5. The networkrepeater of claim 1, wherein the first communication link quality metriccomprises Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINK), Receive SignalSensitivity Indicator (RSSI), or Modulation Coding Scheme (MCS).
 6. Thenetwork repeater of claim 1, wherein the second communication linkquality metric comprises Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR),Receive Signal Sensitivity Indicator (RSSI), or Modulation Coding Scheme(MCS).
 7. The network repeater of claim 1, wherein the operationscomprise configuring at least one of the one or more modal antennas inone of the plurality of antenna modes based at least in part on thesecond communication link quality metric.
 8. The network repeater ofclaim 1, wherein the first communication link and the secondcommunication link are associated with different frequencies.
 9. Thenetwork repeater of claim 1, wherein the second communication link isassociated with a plurality of second nodes.